Chapter 19 In the third quarter, the first fierce fire

In May of the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing (AD 1558), the newly appointed magistrate Hai Rui arrived in Chun'an, Zhejiang from Fujian.On the way to Chun'an, he once again recited "Strict Teacher's Precepts" written by himself when he was a student. Now, the temptation mentioned in that article is clearly in front of me: Entering the prefecture and getting money, Yi Yiyan, wives and concubines in the palace, why would you rather be moved by this?In the world of money and silk, is it incompetent to stand as the mainstay of the mainstream?He who speaks but cannot act, restraining his actions will be ashamed, and he will be ashamed of his quilt when he sleeps. Is it just talking to the people to be proud?

Thinking of so many classmates and husbands who were impassioned before they became officials, but all of them became corrupt officials who took bribes after they entered the office, he felt horrified.The official chair of the Chun'an County Government will become a torture tool to torture his soul.Can he stand this severe test?Although it was his first time as a parent official, like every ordinary citizen in the Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui knew that local officials did not rely on the imperial salary for a living, and their main income was various "regularities".The so-called routine refers to local policies and arbitrary fees.According to history, the Ming Dynasty "official salary is the thinnest".

Officials at that time did not enjoy the benefits provided by the empire. Not only did they not enjoy villas, cars, and year-end bonuses, they also had no place to reimburse food and drink expenses. They only used wages to support a large family or even a family. The life of this county magistrate could only be urban poor level.However, if you look at all kinds of bad rules, you can see why people are keen on running for official careers.As soon as Hai Rui took office, he ordered his master to list the regular income of Chun'an county government members. Among them, under the item of county magistrate, it was written as follows:

One hundred and sixty taels of summer silk silver... Eight bolts of summer sample silk (sample silk, extra samples for grade evaluation are collected when collecting silk, and are distributed as benefits after evaluation).Twenty taels of autumn grain and long silver... four bolts of agricultural and mulberry-like silk.Four taels of grain and silver are folded.Military craftsmen have one tael of silver per mile.Twelve taels of Nongsang silk silver.In the trial of Jiadingtian, there is one tael of silver per mile.The price of salt and grain is ten taels of silver... the average trial corvee is one tael of silver per mile.The yellow book is two taels of silver per mile.After passing through Yanyin, you receive one silver for every one hundred Yin, a total of fifty taels... Cuijia is one tael for every mile.

Firewood...every one hundred taels received two taels of cash...going out for a long time to supply and store money and favors.At the beginning, the peasants will be fined two knives in paper and five qian in silver.Collect all kinds of money and food, five taels for every one hundred taels. It's not that I don't know, it's a shock.Even if the last item "receive all kinds of money and food, five taels for every one hundred taels", the total income of all kinds of income is about 1,000 taels of silver per year, which is converted into RMB 200,000, which is salary income. nearly twenty times.And the last item "receive all kinds of money and food, five taels for every one hundred taels", the amount should be even more astonishing, and the minimum is one thousand taels.Putting it all together, even if a county magistrate does not accept corruption or bribery, his annual regular income is two thousand taels, which is equivalent to a current value of RMB 400,000. The imperial salary can basically be used.

Of course, these county magistrates cannot put all their income into their own pockets.To be precise, these extra income should be counted as a "small treasury", from which the annual entertainment expenses, public relations fees, and "gift money" to superiors must come from.These expenses should account for more than half of all income. Privately setting up small treasuries and formulating local policies were expressly prohibited at the beginning of the founding of the country.However, in the two hundred years since Taizu's death, these routines and bad practices have become public policy, and more than a thousand counties in the empire, as well as the entire bureaucratic system based on the county system, operate with the support of these routines.Without these incomes, officials cannot maintain their daily lives, weave their social networks, and support those under them.It can be said that these routines are indispensable for a day.

The corruption in the late Ming Dynasty had reached a shocking level.Corruption eats into every cell of the social organism.Up to the emperor, for his own private treasury to collect additional mineral donations; down to the small government servants, through the control of the government, the family has tens of thousands of dollars.Being an official is like trading, and reading is just to knock on the door.There is a public price tag for how much bribes are needed to do one thing. When he was studying in the early years, Hai Rui sighed many times in the text: "There are so many things in the world, it will be wrong for a long time!" This world is really unsatisfactory!What made Hai Rui even more indignant was that when the sea was in full swing, few of the scholar-bureaucrats who had read the books of sages regarded themselves as sages to turn back the tide, but they went along with the wind and competed for profit.Even those ministers and ministers with good reputations, they just stretched their hands too far and made money in a restrained manner.In his opinion, there is no one in the whole country who can be called a gentleman.

"The common people call it secluded, and those who call it too much are mostly people of the middle way. And those who are called sages and bureaucrats are good at doing things, or they can't help but want to do it. The wish of the village is not far away from the big evil. Today, people don't do big evil, they must do it for the village. "Those mavericks and lonely people, in his opinion, have not done enough, and the wise men and officials are all filthy people.He hates these ambiguous aspirations more than treacherous evil, because they have embezzled the name of the saint and do more harm to the way of the saint.

A saying that modern people often say is that you cannot ask the world to adapt to you, but you should adapt to the world.Hai Rui did exactly the opposite.He wants to be the mainstay of this turbulent world, to King Yao and Shun, and then to make the custom pure!Even against the whole world, he never backs down. In fact, the world Hai Rui yearns for is not out of reach.When the Ming Dynasty was founded, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang had already drawn up a blueprint for the world. He formulated a series of ancestral precepts and family rules, and made detailed regulations on all aspects of the life of the empire, laying the foundation for thousands of years.Among them, this low salary system is included.In Hai Rui's view, these regulations were perfect.He believes that all mistakes and all ugliness are caused by people's inability to strictly abide by the teachings of saints and ancestors and allow their selfish desires to develop.

Ten days after taking office, Hai Rui announced a decision: abolish all routines. From the eyes of others, this is impossible, but from Hai Rui's point of view, it is a matter of course.If the whole world acquiesces in the existence of routine, it can only mean that the whole world is wrong.If you make a mistake, you must correct it. The reason is that simple! Although before taking office, those well-informed people had spread the reputation of "Mr. Penholder" to the whole county, and everyone was mentally prepared for the strange temper of the new county magistrate, but no one thought of Hai Rui's first fire after taking office. It is the abolition of routine.This is simply insanity, political suicide, and the Arabian Nights!It was estimated that within three days, Hai Rui would have to change his mind.

However, Hai Rui kept his word.He took all "unreasonable charges" across the board, not only his own routine, but also all the extra income of the county magistrates, chief bookkeepers, pawns, edicts, masters, yamen servants, doormen, and all officials of the county! The move amounted to nothing less than a political earthquake.Not only the officials of the whole county were struck by a bolt from the blue, but the officials of the entire province were dumbfounded!After the shock, everyone held their breath and prepared to watch the jokes of this stunned young man who had just entered the officialdom: see what he eats, what he wears, what he uses to support his family, what he uses to entertain past officials, and what he uses to honor his superiors?Let's see if he can hold on for a few days, how will it end if he can't hold on? "Sea Pen Holder" really persisted.With five taels of silver a month, he really supported a large family.Of course, the standard of living cannot be compared with others, and they have to think of other ways to make ends meet.Hai Rui opened a piece of wasteland in the backyard of the government office, about half the size, and planted cucumbers and beans. Every day after get off work, he would change into coarse clothes and carry a hoe to work for a while.The whole family eats coarse grains every day and cannot eat meat several times a year.After becoming an official, the living standard of the Hai family is not as good as before. Hai Rui himself has been wearing an official uniform for six years. It is patched here and there, the color cannot be seen, and if you pull it with your hands, it will be a thread.The firewood for cooking every day is collected by the old servant from the mountains.One day, Hai Rui found that the branches and leaves of the firewood brought by the old servant were dry and did not look like freshly cut, so he called the old servant to interrogate.The old servant didn't dare to hide it, so he had no choice but to confess that someone in the street flattered him and packed it for him and carried it back.Hai Rui immediately asked him to find the firewood delivery man, gave him fifty copper coins as the price of the firewood on the spot, and then closed the courtyard door and beat the old servant. The county magistrates and chief clerks in Chun'an asked to be transferred one after another, and the yamen servants and doormen also went home and quit.Hai Rui was unmoved.You go your own way, if you don't do it, someone else will do it.The county magistrate left, and he took over the business to do it himself.The yamen servant quit, and he recruited again from poor areas.The county magistrate who others do very leisurely, he is running around, disheartened, and has no days of rest a year. Boss birthdays and weddings and ceremonies are the best times for subordinates to "express". Others send hundreds of thousands of silver, but he only writes a congratulatory letter.When superiors come to inspect work or pass by, the hospitality and accommodation are all the standards set by the Taizu at the beginning of the country.Gradually, Chun'an became a dangerous place for officials, and no one wanted to travel there as a last resort. The piles of "Haibijia" have gradually become an indispensable news in the official circles of Zhejiang, and they have become people's gossip. Even Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang, has become an enthusiastic disseminator.One day, before the meeting of senior officials in the province, Hu Zongxian told everyone mysteriously: "Yesterday I heard that 'Haibijia' celebrated his mother's birthday, and he went to the street to buy two catties of meat! A butcher in Chun'an County They all said that they never expected to be able to do the business of the county magistrate of Hai in this life!" The audience roared with laughter. In this way, Hai Rui became a "sea monster" in the official circles of the whole province.